Hossein Kermani; Amirali Tafreshi; Amir Mohammad Ghodsi; Alireza Bayat Makou; Ali Atash Zar
Abstract
Introduction:
The present study delves into the repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic on human life and social interactions, with a particular focus on Iran. The pandemic has substantially impacted various facets of human life, resulting in diminishing physical presence in the public sphere to avoid ...
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Introduction:
The present study delves into the repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic on human life and social interactions, with a particular focus on Iran. The pandemic has substantially impacted various facets of human life, resulting in diminishing physical presence in the public sphere to avoid getting infected with the virus, while increasing online interactions on social media platforms. The purposes of this research study include exploring the linguistic constructs developed on Twitter and Instagram in Farsi, during the initial stages of the COVID-19 outbreak in Iran. The analysis is aimed towards providing a comprehensive comprehension of the underlying meanings constructed and negotiated in the early days of Iran's experience with the COVID-19 crisis, particularly in relation to the presence of power dynamics and hegemonic discourses.
Materials and Methods:
The aforementioned study implements mixed methodologies, featuring a combination of computational and traditional qualitative approaches, namely SOCIAL network analysis and qualitative content analysis, to elevate the depth and validity of the analysis. Specifically, these methods are used to investigate the social networking components and discussive content present within social media. The data collected in this study entails more than 4 million tweets and Instagram submissions from January 21, 2020, to April 29, 2020. The focus of the Twitter data analysis centered on the retweet network, which acted as the information dispersion network. Following data refinement, the retweet network was extracted, comprising more than 2.5 million tweets. Using a modularity-based community detection algorithm, clusters within the retweet network were identified. Five significant clusters, boasting volumes in excess of 4% of the total network, were identified. Each cluster incorporated a selection of individuals identified as the most influential according to the Pagerank index, indicating the highest tweet circulation in the entire network. A sample of 5056 tweets representing the total tweet population (7658) was randomly drawn, following which they were qualitatively annotated via content analysis to identify the underlying discourses. The agreement coefficient, based on Krippendorff's Alpha, was calculated to be 83%.
Discussion and Results
The findings of this research unveil a total of 71 micro-discourse constructs, clustered into 16 overarching macro-discourses, that were observed on both Twitter and Instagram during the initial days of the COVID-19 outbreak in Iran. Furthermore, the most prevalent micro-discourse formats, sporting the highest frequency counts, were selected for further analysis, resulting in five dominant constructs on Twitter and Instagram each. The investigation of the selected discourses provided insights into their facets and their connection with power dynamics in Iran. Three of the predominant discourse formats were found to be shared between both platforms, with each host possessing
Conclusions
This study endeavored to discover and examine the discourses manufactured by Iranian users during the COVID-19 outbreak. The psychological dynamics of these users in the early phases of the pandemic were analyzed in light of Network Framing Theory and Foucault's Discourse Theory. The outcome presents a comprehensive picture of the network agency of Persian users on Twitter and Instagram. Users on Twitter predominantly held a conviction to accuse parties deemed responsible for the outbreak, such as negligence, faith-based assumptions, concealment, and misrepresentation. Meanwhile, Instagram users were positioned as afflicted, either undertaking health preventive measures or suffering the fear and hardships of COVID-19 conditions. This study illustrates that although internet-based networks have encroached on the primacy of conventional media as a leading framing agency, their features and systems still exert a significant influence. Each network highlights distinct frames, with specific content production dynamics, thereby producing diverse discourse constructs. This case study assessed the responses of users during the initial period of the crisis (short-term), but additional research can examine its implications in the medium and long term.
Hossein Kermani; Marziyeh Adham; Amirali Tafreshi
Abstract
This paper provides a comprehensive and reliable approach to doing social research on Persian Twitter. Twitter has been one of the most favorable social platforms in Iran for years. Despite such popularity, research on Twitter has not been grown as it is supposed to be. Therefore, we are trying to fill ...
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This paper provides a comprehensive and reliable approach to doing social research on Persian Twitter. Twitter has been one of the most favorable social platforms in Iran for years. Despite such popularity, research on Twitter has not been grown as it is supposed to be. Therefore, we are trying to fill this gap by suggesting a complete approach in this article. This approach is based on social network analysis, ethnographic content analysis, and social media critical discourse studies. Combining these methods, we are going beyond the limitations of current approaches which focus on either users or tweets. This approach provides researchers with a convenient method from the selection of gathering data strategy and time to statistical and final analysis. We suggest helpful and reliable concepts and tools to research on Twitter in each step. Moreover, we present a strategy to coding users’ demographic variables in addition to an approach to reach a close and valid reading of tweets. This approach could consist of a convenient basis for future studies.
Hamid Abdollahyan; Hossein Kermani
Abstract
This paper examines how the networked publics on Twitter are taking shape in Iran. While Twitter's role in political events has increased, the systematic study on this issue has not grown as expected. Accordingly, considering the importance of Twitter in Iran as well as the role of networking publics ...
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This paper examines how the networked publics on Twitter are taking shape in Iran. While Twitter's role in political events has increased, the systematic study on this issue has not grown as expected. Accordingly, considering the importance of Twitter in Iran as well as the role of networking publics in Twitter, the first step in analyzing Twitter's role in politics in Iran is to identify and analyze the characteristics and structure of such network publics. The purpose of this research paper, therefore, is to identify and analyze the structure of networking publics on the Persian website. We collected the necessary data during the 25 days of the presidential election of 2017. To do such research, in addition to using the theoretical concept of the public, we have combined the methods of social network analysis and ethnographic content analysis. The modularity of clusters indicates that there are three main clusters in the retweet network as follows: 1- the reformists' cluster, 2- the fundamentalists' cluster, and 3- The immigrant cluster. To describe the features of these three, we identified active users of each one based on the PageRank index. The findings indicate that active users are often made up of journalists, the media, and ordinary citizens. There is also a significant gender gap in the network of publics. Most of the members' accounts of these publics remained active after the election, but the members of these three network publics are different from each other in terms of their true identity..
hadi khaniki; Hossein Kermani
Abstract
Alongside with the advent and proliferation of internet usage in societies, more debates on the potentials of internet in reviving or reshaping the public sphere or even creating a new one has aroused. Thus, this paper is trying to evaluate if a micro public sphere is shaped in a Telegram group where ...
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Alongside with the advent and proliferation of internet usage in societies, more debates on the potentials of internet in reviving or reshaping the public sphere or even creating a new one has aroused. Thus, this paper is trying to evaluate if a micro public sphere is shaped in a Telegram group where Iranian journalist had discussed the requirements and conditions for establishing a professional association. Telegram is the most popular Instant Messaging Application in Iran now, and its groups provide a very convenient space for discussions and conversations. That is why numerous groups are created to enable people to participate in public and (potentially) free discussions. In September 2016, when some Iranian journalist tried to establish a professional association for Tehran-based journalists, a group in Telegram was created which attracted more than 600 members at that time. The announced purpose of the group was exploring the circumstances and providing helpful suggestions for those working to prepare the statute of the association. Thus, using a triangulation of three methods, we tried to achieve a close reading of messages in the group (we analyzed 1117 messages from the beginning before the theoretical saturation was achieved). We identified 5 different kinds of conversations: simple, empathy, non-challenging, challenging, and hostile. Findings showed that the members’ actions in some cases can be seen as communicative rather than instrumental or strategic. Results also indicated that as debates got more hostile, many of public sphere’s norms were violated.
Babak Rahimi; Hossein Kermani; Zohreh Alihoseini; Mohammadmahdi Meshkini
Abstract
Nowadays, many Iranians are using smart phones. Also, the digital divide problem remains an important issue in contemporary urban Iran. Thus, doing research into the relation between these variables is necessary to provide a better understanding of the problem. Using Van Deursen and Van Dijk theory, ...
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Nowadays, many Iranians are using smart phones. Also, the digital divide problem remains an important issue in contemporary urban Iran. Thus, doing research into the relation between these variables is necessary to provide a better understanding of the problem. Using Van Deursen and Van Dijk theory, this paper aims to clear if smart phone usage causes some new kinds of digital divide or not. Furthermore, we measured the correlations between some socio-demographical variables with digital divide. We surveyed 273 of Tehran citizens to answer the research questions and test the hypotheses. Finding shows that the main divide occurs in skills acces also there is a divide in material access but. In addition, class and education have the most effect on digital divide. Class affect the all kinds of accesses and education have effect on 2 of them, while other variables such as age, gender and ethnicity don not have significant effect on different levels of access.
